Definition

Ablation therapy is a type of minimally invasive procedure doctors use to destroy abnormal tissue that occurs with many conditions. For example, your doctor may use an ablation procedure to treat a small kidney tumor or to destroy (ablate) a small amount of heart tissue that's causing abnormally rapid heart rhythms.

Doctors may perform ablation therapy using probes inserted through the skin, flexible tubes (catheters) inserted through an artery or energy beams to reach the area being treated. Imaging techniques are used to guide the ablation. The abnormal tissue is injured or destroyed with heat (radiofrequency ablation), extreme cold (cryoablation), lasers or a chemical.

Legal Conditions and Terms

Reprint Permissions

A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.org," "Mayo Clinic Healthy Living," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.